THE FUTURE OF KANSAS POLICY IS TAKING SHAPE. BE IN THE ROOM WHEN THE WORK BEGINS.

Now in its second year, Mainstream's annual policy summit is a one-day, nonpartisan convening of state and local policymakers, advocacy and lobbying groups, civic organizations, and grassroots activists for a working look at key policy issues ahead of the upcoming legislative session.

SUMMIT OVERVIEW

On Saturday, December 12, this year's Summit, "Leading Beyond the Ballot," takes on the topics that will shape the policy landscape of Kansas in 2027. A decision made in one area rarely stays there, and its effects reach budgets, communities, and constituents in ways single-issue conversations tend to miss. Rather than treating each one in isolation, the Summit will focus on the intersectionality of key issues, purposeful partnerships, and narrative strategies around:

  • Data centers and emerging technology
  • Renewable energy and the environment
  • Community safety
  • Education, health care, affordability
  • First Amendment and church-state separation

Join plenary sessions that deliver an accurate grounding in the facts from subject-matter experts; and, immersive workshops that find policymakers, advocates, and residents at the same table. Participants will leave equipped with a policy roadmap for the session ahead and the strategic relationships to act on it.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

STATE LEGISLATORS

Before the gavel: a working day on the 2027 session. The bills you take up in 2027 will cross committee lines faster than the committee structure can follow them. A school finance decision lands on a local property tax base that Kansans are already asking lawmakers to shrink. A data center incentive becomes a water question, then a rate question, then a labor question. One day gets you the whole picture from experts who are there to provide resources, not lobby. You will spend the day with municipal policymakers who have to make your legislation work on the ground, and alongside colleagues from both parties reading the same material you are. That is a room you cannot build once session starts, and it will not exist again before January.

LOCAL & STATE GOVERNING BODY MEMBERS

What Topeka decides in the spring lands on your agenda by the fall. Much of what the Legislature settles in 2027 will reach you as a siting application, a rate case, a curriculum complaint, or a budget you did not write. The Summit gives you command of the state-level picture before it arrives: where local control authority actually sits between your governing body and Topeka; how the energy and data center buildout is impacting your tax base, your grid, and your water; and what special education funding and federal health and nutrition changes mean for the communities you serve. You will also spend the day with state legislators, board members from across Kansas, and subject-matter experts, with real time to compare notes with someone facing your exact decision in another county. That kind of access is hard to arrange any other way.

2026 CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE

However November goes, December is where the work starts. The Kansas Policy Summit falls five weeks after Election Day and five weeks before session, which makes it the most useful day on the calendar for anyone who is on the November ballot. If you win, you walk into Topeka already grounded in the issues most likely to reach your committee, with a roster of experts you can call. If not, your work shouldn’t end. You’ll leave the Summit with knowledge and connections to continue to advocate for your community and hold elected officials accountable to their constituents.

ADVOCACY & NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Your issue is already six other people's issue. You already have the legislators' phone numbers. What you do not have is one day with legislators, county commissioners, city council members, school boards, and utility trustees all in the same room, which is where a 2027 strategy stops being a wish list and becomes a plan. Single-issue advocacy hits a ceiling in a session this crowded, so the Summit maps the intersection of key issues, helping you find unexpected allies. Policy experts will lay out what is moving in each area to help inform your 2027 legislative agenda and civic engagement calendar. Bring your policy staff and organizers, and come ready to build. Partner and sponsor opportunities coming soon!

COMMUNITY MEMBERS

You don't need a title to be effective in your community. What you need is an understanding of how the pieces fit and who to talk to. That is what this day is for. Plenary sessions lay out the landscape in plain language. Immersive workshops put you at a table with subject-matter experts and decision-makers. You will leave knowing what is on the slate for 2027, where a constituent voice carries the most weight, and who to call first when a bill or a board vote reaches your neighborhood. Come curious, and leave ready to put your plan to work in January.

PREVIOUS SUMMIT ATTENDEES

You were in the room last November. Last year, you dedicated time to engaging with community and national leaders on religious extremism and the importance of church-state separation. This year, Mainstream's Kansas Policy Summit focuses on where decisions get made: the bills, budgets, and board votes headed into the 2027 session. The First Amendment and church-state separation are still on the agenda, now embedded as a core advocacy lens that will build critical knowledge, increase your strategic capacity, and equip you with resources to advocate fully across a spectrum of policy areas: data centers and emerging technology, community safety, renewable energy and the environment, education, health care, and affordability.

Take what you learned last year and put it to work, this time with subject-matter experts and decision-makers in the same room. Don't miss this opportunity to build your 2027 advocacy roadmap alongside the people who make the policy.